Faith by Lyn Cote

Goodreads Summary

The Civil War battlefield is the last place Quakeress Faith Cathwell thought she'd find herself.  But with a gift for nursing, Faith seizes this opportunity to pin the fight for abolition—and to search for Shiloh, a freeborn childhood friend who was kidnapped and sold south by unscrupulous slave catchers.

Knowing it's much too dangerous for her to search enemy territory alone, Faith enlists the help of Colonel Devlin Knight, who is indebted to her for saving his cousin's life.  A career soldier, Dev is committed to the preservation of the Union but conflicted about freeing his own slave and confidant, who plans to enlist as soon as Dev gives him manumission papers.

Blazing a trail east with the rest of Grant's army, Dev and Faith fight their personal battles—and a growing attraction to each other.  When beliefs clash and passions flare, they quickly find that the only thing more dangerous than the war surrounding them is the battle within their hearts.

My Thoughts

I struggled.  I really, really struggled.  Here's the thing, this book probably wasn't bad, I think I just really don't enjoy Quaker/Amish type books.  I thought I would be able to get into it a little more with the Shiloh storyline, but I still really struggled.

It is very possible that I was just not in the mood to read this kind of story, or maybe it was just in my head that I don't usually enjoy Quaker/Amish books...  I really don't know.  I feel horrible to have a not-so-great review for Faith!  It's probably a lovely book!  There are plenty of people who enjoy these books so I'm sure there are plenty of people who would like this one :)

Bottom line... it wasn't bad, it just wasn't the book for me!

*Note: I received a copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

The Hearts We Mend by Kathryn Springer

Goodreads Summary

Planning and Post-It notes are the epitome of Evie's life.  But when she meets Jack, her life gets more than a little complicated.

Thirteen years ago, Evie's firefighter husband was killed in the line of duty, leaving her to raise their young son, Cody, alone.  Now, Cody is marrying the love of his life, and as he packs up his belongings, the house feels as empty as Evie's heart.  But for all her planning and mad organizational skills, Evie could never have anticipated the dramatic shift her life about to make.

Tattooed, rough-around-the-edges Jack raises quite a few eyebrows in the tight-knit community of Banister Falls.  Where Evie's life is stream-lined, Jack's approach to living is moment by moment.  But as Evie gets drawn into Jack's world—a world that isn't as safe or predictable as the one she's worked so hard to create—he challenges her to open her eyes to the problems outside the walls of the church.

Jack doesn't make Evie feel comfortable, but he definitely makes her feel something.  Something she hasn't felt since Max passed away—or, maybe ever.  Because even though Jack isn't anything like her late husband, he might be everything she needs.

My Thoughts

This book is just lovely!  Wonderful amounts of sweetness, drama, funny little parts, faith, and love!  Just simply lovely!  I am ready to read more books by Kathryn Springer right now!

I wanted to get to the end so bad, and yet I didn't want it to end!  I caught myself trying to skim ahead on the page so that I could see what was going to happen several times (mostly nearing the end of the book) and had to stop myself and go back to where I was supposed to be reading.  There were times that I got so frustrated at Jack, just wanting to smack some sense into him, and then I would feel the same way about Evie!

Faith was a big part of The Hearts We Mend but it wasn't the kind of book that shoves it in your face. If you enjoy reading faith based books, you will like this one.  But, even if you don't typically enjoy faith based books, you'll most likely still enjoy this book.  It was just really well written.  I highly recommend reading The Hearts We Mend by Kathryn Springer!

*Note: I received a copy of this book from BookLookBloggers in exchange for an honest review.

Bad Analysis by Colin Knight

Goodreads Summary

In London, a delusional racist aristocrat, invisible, privileged, and well-protected by his station, ruthlessly coordinates a diabolical attack, a slaughter disguised as a domestic terror assault.  Deep in the core of MI5, a traitor, misuses, redirects and controls official resources.  Manipulating a group of cowards, rapists, murderers, and virulent racists culled from the ranks of the English Defense League, the aristocrat and the traitor aim to throw England into a state of xenophobic frenzy.  Only two men stand a chance of stopping their fanatical plot.  One is a victim of state-sponsored madness twice over, a humble Egyptian cab driver who brought his family to England in search of a better life.  Aalim is meant to be a scapegoat for the actions of his captors, a "rag-head" who can be made to take the blame for their actions lest his innocent wife and son, taken hostage, suffer a terrible fate.  The other, Wilson, is a crotchety intelligence analyst.  An iconoclastic workaholic, rapidly losing patience with his superiors' political gamesmanship, Wilson relies on his own brand of intelligence analysis when one of the plotters makes the attack personal and when one of his closest friends at MI5 pays the ultimate price for discovering too much.  Can Aalim's faith and humanity overcome his fear of the monsters keeping his family captive?  And can Wilson overcome the Bad Analysis that infests a system that, from the very beginning, was set against him?

My Thoughts

I was contacted by Mr Knight and asked if I would like to read and review his novel, Bad Analysis.  I agreed and am glad I did!  I admit that I was hesitant when I first read the summary of this book.  It is not the typical genre that I read so I wasn't sure how I would feel about it.  To be perfectly honest, there were a few things that I personally didn't love (the detailed violence and the choice language) because I'm just not a violence and terror kind of girl but I could totally see this becoming a movie!

Bad Analysis was well written and extremely detailed.  Colin Knight certainly did his research!  This is not a fluff book or one for the faint of heart!  If you enjoy reading Thrillers then you will probably love this book!  Go get it!

*Note:  I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.